department of environmental qualityhttp://www.readthehook.com/taxonomy/term/3975/all
enDEQ view: Quality Welding under investigationhttp://www.readthehook.com/93505/news-deq-view-quality-welding-under-investigation
<p>The Department of Environmental Quality is checking out allegations that Quality Welding gets rid of paint and paint thinner by dumping it on the ground.</p>
<p>Quality Welding owner Lewis Dickerson calls the charges false. But two sources familiar with company operations claim they witnessed paint and thinner being dumped into the ground.</p>
<p>In April, the Charlottesville fire marshal, Charlottesville building inspectors, and representatives of the DEQ visited the Harris Street welding shop.</p>
<p>Fire marshal Ben Powell cited the business for 14 violations on April 16, the most serious of which were storing open containers of flammable paint and thinners within 10 feet of welding operations and spray painting without adequate ventilation.</p>
<p>"They corrected all the fire code stuff," says Powell. "I went back on April 23 to check the code corrections because I had them stop work until they were fixed." Powell says he contacted the city building inspector and the DEQ.</p>
<p>City building official Tom Elliott says that businesses that paint inside need a sprinkler system and a paint booth or an area with proper ventilation, exhaust, filters, and a fire-rated area none of which Quality Welding has.</p>
<p>"We appreciate calls from concerned citizens about building code violations," adds Elliott, because once construction is complete, building inspectors usually don't know what's going on inside.</p>
<p>There were outside problems too. Where employees paint, Powell observed paint on the ground. "The whole area is covered with paint," he says. That can be a concern if the materials on the ground can be carried off into streams, says a DEQ official.</p>
<p>According to the DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden, guidelines for outdoors painting depend on the volume and whether people are breathing the fumes. "We're looking into whether some type of permit is required from an emissions standpoint," he says.</p>
<p>"In some cases a protective area or hood that contains paint emissions is appropriate," says Hayden. "That's what we're looking at."</p>
<p>"You can walk out behind the shop, and the ground is green or black or whatever," says a source, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity. And when asked how Quality Welding disposes of paint and thinner, this source reports witnessing painting products being dumped out on the ground.</p>
<p>A DEQ inspector found no evidence that paint had been dumped, but says it may be a month before the investigation of Quality Welding is complete, says Hayden.</p>
<p>"We want to look at how they're managing their disposal of painting materials," he says. "We're looking into conditions of how they conduct painting."</p>
<p>The DEQ did not take soil or water samples, according to Hayden.</p>
<p>Dickerson, who flies a Confederate battle flag above his shop, downplays the government visits to his business, and says the DEQ "said we were fine." He says he was instructed to store paint in a 55-gallon barrel and then have it picked up when full.</p>
<p>He describes how Quality Welding previously disposed of paint: "We put it in a bucket, and it evaporates and gets hard. Then you can put it in a dumpster," says Dickerson, who adds that the DEQ approved that method.</p>
<p>Hayden confirms that letting paint dry up before tossing it "can be an approved method."</p>
<p>Both whistleblowers cite environmental concerns about Quality Welding's methods of handling painting materials, and fear ground, air, and water contamination. "Either they don't care, or they're ignorant," says one observer.</p>
<p>Lewis Dickerson admits to improperly storing paint, but not to improperly dumping it. "The DEQ said there were no major problems, just a few minor ones," he says.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
http://www.readthehook.com/93505/news-deq-view-quality-welding-under-investigation#commentsdepartment of environmental qualityNewsMon, 27 Jun 2011 10:33:12 +0000lisa93505 at http://www.readthehook.comCovering their ashhttp://www.readthehook.com/98834/covering-their-ash
<p>“Things have changed considerably since we last spoke,” says Department of Environmental Quality senior engineer Mike Kiss.<br />At last report, the DEQ was still considering UVA’s application to burn more fuel at its main heating plant on Jefferson Park Avenue. And, in a revelation that had some residents recoiling in horror, a Charlottesville city councilor pointed out that UVA admitted that it is currently spewing more than a ton of sulfur dioxide a day.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Now at least one source of contention has been eliminated. UVA had been claiming that its non-profit status exempted it from some federal air standards. DEQ didn’t argue with that, but said UVA still has to meet state standards, specifically, the best available control technology, or BACT, from which federal regulations exempt it.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The university decided to comply with the BACT requirement. “We’re selecting an outside engineering firm over the next several weeks to help with that analysis,” says UVA spokeswoman Louise Dudley.<br />The firm will look at environmental and economic impacts, as well as cleaner fuels, best combustion practices, and controls on smokestacks, which Dudley calls “tailpipe controls.” <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; As for the reported DEQ investigation, Dudley says DEQ is not pursing an investigation, and Kiss confirms that, saying, “At this point, we’re focused on the permit application.”<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In another development, on March 26, a federal appeals court upheld strict federal air-quality standards that industry groups had been fighting. Will that ruling affect the 100 pounds of particulates that UVA emits each day?<br />Kiss says no. Nor will the ruling have any immediate effect on UVA’s permit, Kiss says.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While environmentalists got pretty riled up when City Councilor Kevin Lynch reported that UVA wanted to increase its heating plant emissions, the coal industry’s reaction was a bit different.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; “One of the most telling things about that Progress article was that [Lynch] was not even aware coal was being burned in the city,” says Andy Cox, vice president of Amvest, an international energy company that sells coal. “That means UVA is doing a heck of a good job. The fact that they want to burn more won’t matter one iota to John Doe.”<br />While Amvest has a special connection with UVA— founder Carl W. Smith is the former gridiron great who gave $25 million to refurbish Scott Stadium— Amvest does not sell coal to clients as small as UVA, according to Cox. (Also, Amvest does not sell stoker coal— the kind UVA burns— which Cox describes as one of the cleanest and most efficient types of coal because it produces less ash.) Cox has been in the university facility and says, “You can eat off the floor in that plant.” <br />The fact that UVA does not use scrubbers in its smokestacks was another revelation that startled the community. However, UVA’s permit does not require scrubbers, and, among several problems they present at the JPA site Cox notes, “I doubt there’s physical room to put them in.” Also, scrubbers produce a lime sludge that is costly to dispose of, he says.<br />Cox has a daughter who attends UVA and lives near the power plant. He decries environmental scare tactics that ask such questions as, “Do you want your children to have to breathe bad air?” Cox offers this testimonial: “I’m not concerned a bit about that little, itty-bitty power plant if it’s properly maintained and run.”<br /><br /><br /></p>
http://www.readthehook.com/98834/covering-their-ash#commentsdepartment of environmental qualityNewsThu, 07 Jul 2011 20:21:55 +0000lisa98834 at http://www.readthehook.com